Soft Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe with golden, chewy edges and buttery, fluffy centers. Learn how to make everyone’s favorite gooey and delicious cinnamon sugar cookie recipe below!

Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. Up there with oatmeal cookies and these browned butter chocolate chip cookies, a great snickerdoodle recipe checks all the right boxes:

perfectly crispy, crunchy, chewy edges
with soft, buttery centers
just the right amount of tang from the cream of tartar
with a thorough coating of cinnamon and sugar

Perfect for parties, potlucks, and holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas, these cookies are so good, I highly recommend making a second batch of these gooey crisp cookies.

Why Is It Called a Snickerdoodle?

According to the cookbook, “Joy of Cooking” the word snickerdoodle is probably German in origin. It is thought that the name may have been derived from the German word for “crinkly noodles”, Schneckennudeln. There have been other claims made over the year, but the true origin of the word still remains a mystery.

Ingredients and Frequently Asked Questions

Butter
Sugar
Eggs
Vanilla Extract
Flour
Cream of Tartar
Baking soda
Salt

A good snickerdoodle recipe is made with a handful of simple pantry ingredients. Easy enough for bakers of all skill levels (yes, even kiddos with adult supervision) the result should be cookies that are pillowy soft and shimmering with cinnamon sugar.

What is cream of tartar?

Cream of tartar has a variety of purposes:

Stabilize whipped egg whites
Prevents sugar from crystallizing
Acts as a leavening agent for baked goods

In the case of snickerdoodles, cream of tartar adds the characteristic tanginess and just the right amount of chew to each delicious cookie.

What can I substitute for cream of tartar?

This recipe calls for 1.5 teaspoons cream of tartar and 0.5 teaspoon baking soda. Possible substitutions if you don’t have cream of tartar include:

Baking Powder: Baking powder works when your recipe contains both baking soda and cream of tartar. This is because baking powder is made of bicarbonate and tartaric acid, otherwise known as baking soda and cream of tartar. For this recipe, use 2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder to replace 1.5 teaspoons cream of tartar.
Fresh Lemon Juice: Here, you’ll replace 1.5 teaspoon cream of tartar with 3 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice (in other words, for every 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, use 1 teaspoon lemon juice).

How to Make the Best Snickerdoodle Cookies

Cream the butter and sugar for at least 4-5 minutes before even thinking about adding the eggs and vanilla extract. This beats air into the mixture making for a lighter and fluffier snickerdoodle recipe.
Combine your dry ingredients – the flour, cream of tartar (don’t forget the cream of tartar for that signature snickerdoodle tang and perfectly chewy texture), baking soda, and salt. Whisk it all together in a large bowl.
Combine the wet and the dry ingredients, making sure you don’t overmix. If you tend to overmix your cookie batter, I recommend folding the flour mixture into the sugar mixture just until combined.
Use a small cookie scoop to scoop your cookies into small balls and use your palms to roll them into small balls. Roll them, and then roll them again, in your cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Bake them at least 2-3 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Unless, of course, you want one giant cookie?

Yes, this is how you make the best cookies ever.

Serve them warm, and soft, and gooey with cold milk, or, topped with scoops of icy vanilla ice cream.

Tips for Making the Best Classic Snickerdoodle

Cream your butter and sugar for at least 4-5 minutes. Prolonged creaming of the butter and sugar gets it nice, light, and creamy, really working air into the dough.
You can mix in the dry ingredients with a hand mixer or stand mixer set on low-speed, but folding in the dry ingredients by hand is best. This guarantees that your dough won’t be overmixed.
Arrange your cookies at least 2-3 inches apart. I learned this the hard way when my first batch of cookies baked into not twelve, but one giant sheet cookie.
For thicker cookies, don’t flatten with the bottom of a glass.
For flatter cookies (shown here) flatten slightly with the bottom of a clean glass after your cookies have been rolled in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.